Monday, 16 December 2013

LONDON SCOUSER'S Best Of 2013

This has been a great year with 2 notable events.... A future King of England was born, but more importantly, I joined the Tune Doctor team as a regular contributor. I haven't checked the official statistics, but I believe I have had almost as much press coverage as baby George. Seriously though, I have really enjoyed choosing tracks to share every week and I look forward to contributing many more.These are my 5 absolute standout tracks of the year, in no particular order.

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - 'Stunner'

When I chose this as my TOTW back in August, I said that I was eagerly awaiting the release of their 3rd album 'Repent, Replenish, Repeat' and I wasn't disappointed. Despite only having 9 tracks, it has everything I have come to love about the boys. Clever and meaningful lyrics with Dan Le Sac's excellent beats holding the songs together.

This time I will dedicate the song to a certain Shellhunter because as far as I'm concerned, 'The world don't revolve around you but it should'

Black Books - 'Favorite Place'

I first came across this 5 piece band from Austin, Texas when I was offered a free song on my mobile phone through my Google Play account. That song was 'White Noise' and it featured on an EP called 'Aquarena'. I was instantly impressed and could hear influences that to me ranged from 'Arcade Fire' to 'Embrace'. The standout track however was this song which also features on their self titled debut album. In May,they were in the UK supporting none other than 'The Flaming Lips' and Shellhunter and I caught them at their first ever UK headline gig at The Barfly just after they had played 2 support gigs at The Roundhouse. They played a great set and afterwards I spoke with the band at the bar and they were a bunch of nice guys to boot. I look forward to seeing them again in the near future.

Actual setlist taken off of the stage post-gig

Imagine Dragons - 'Radioactive'

I chose this as my first TOTW way back in January, and despite it's popularity (108 million plus views on You Tube) I haven't grown tired of it. The video still makes me smile with all of the cuddly-wuddlies gaining their revenge. The rest of the album was slightly poppier than this but I enjoyed it. I never got a chance to see them when they played over here earlier in the year, but I'm sure they will be back soon.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (Feat Wanz) - 'Thrift Shop'

When I first heard this track on Scroobius Pip's xFM show, I didn't realise how huge it was going to become. I don't have much else to say other than to quote some of the lyrics ' This is f#@$ing awesome'

Having been a fan of Alice In Chains since the 90's I was really happy to hear their new stuff this year which did not fail to disappoint me whatsoever. Shellhunter and I saw that they were playing over in the UK and when the dates were announced we were dismayed to see that they were playing in London at the Alexandra Palace (see here for why we were upset) I saw that they were also playing in Birmingham, and I arranged to stay with some family up there, but never got around to buying the tickets and missed seeing them play. However, imagine my excitement when at work one mundane morning, a colleague handed me a plectrum and asked me if I had heard of this band.Upon studying it, I thought I read the signature as Jerry Cantrell...I then turned it over and saw the dinosaur logo that featured on the cover of their latest album 'The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here' by now I was speechless and shaking. I eventually managed to tell my colleague that this was one of may all time favourite bands. She insisted that I go and speak with them, which after taking a few minutes to gather myself together, I did. The bands tour manager, Chuck Randall looks an imposing figure, but he is the epitome of 'looks can be deceiving' as he was one of the nicest people I have ever met. he introduced me to Jerry and Mike Inez who were equally nice and spoke with me for a few minutes while I gushed about being a huge fan etc. This didn't put them off though as they agreed to have a picture taken with me. I promise that next time they are over here, I will 100 percent be seeing them.

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Tune Doctor Music Blog is like a time machine, albeit without the need for plutonium or speeding to 88 mph, It has the power to evoke vivid memories and summon long forgotten ones with the first few bars of a song.

Yes, I've been into them since I heard 'Thou Shalt Always Kill' & saw them on the tour preceding the first LP. I'm ashamed to admit, however, that I haven't yet checked out 'Repent Replenish Repeat'. I must correct this error.